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67 Cards in this Set

The physiological network of intercommunicating cells that forms the basis of our ability to perceive, adapt to, and interact with the world.

BRAIN

The supreme organ of the nervous system, which most directly controls our thoughts, emotions, and motivations.

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS)

One of the main parts of the nervous system. Has two parts: the brain and the spinal cord.

NEURONS

a network of individual cells that receive information and transmit it to the spinal cord

SPINAL CORD

A slender, roughly cylindrical rope of interconnected fibers, about the diameter of your little finger, enclosed within the spinal column, that transmits information from sensory neurons to the brain and from the brain to motor neurons.

SENSORY AFFERENTS

Receive electrochemical information from outlying neurons in the eyes, ears, and skin, and transmit is back up through the spinal cord to the brain. (afferent is a neuron that brings information into a structure)

MOTOR EFFERENTS

Transmit such information as movements of the large and small muscles either from the brain through the spinal cord to the muscles (for voluntary movements) or directly from the spinal cord to the muscles (in the case of reflexes)(efferent is a neuron that carries information away from a structure)

REFLEX

A much faster automatic physiological response to an external stimulus than a voluntary response.

PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (PNS)

Comprises all of the neurons except those in the brain and spinal cord.

Concerned primarily with catabolism (the metabolic processes that use the energy and other resources from the reserves stored in the body)

PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

Concerned primarily with anabolism (the metabolic processes that store energy)

SENSORY NEURONS

Receive information from the environment.

MOTOR NEURONS

Carry information away from the spinal cord and the brain and toward the body parts that are supposed to respond to the information in some way.

INTERNEURONS

Serve as intermediaries between sensory and motor neurons.

SYNAPSE

The important gap between neurons through which messages are transmitted.

SOMA

The body of the neuron.

DENDRITES

(branchlike parts of the neuron at the end of the soma) and the soma receive communications from other cells via distinctive receptors on their external membranes.

AXON

A long, thin tube, which can divide and branch many times at its terminus (end). The ____ responds to the information received by the dendrites and soma.

NERVE

A bundle of axons.

MYELIN SHEATH

Insulates and protects the axon from electrochemical interference from other neurons in the area.

NODES OF RANVIER

Gaps.

TERMINAL BUTTONS

Small knobby structures that play an important part in inter-neuronal communication.

GLIAL CELLS

Function as a kind of glue to hold the CNS together by keeping the neurons in their proper places, at optimal distances from one another and from other structures.

THRESHOLD OF EXCITATION

A brief change occurs in the electrochemical balance inside and outside the neuron.

ACTION POTENTIAL

The neuron "fires" (carries impulses, or messages, through the axon from one end to the other.

ABSOLUTE REFRACTORY PHASE

No matter how strong the stimulus may be, the neuron cannot fire again.

RELATIVE REFRACTORY PHASE

The neuron can fire but only in response to a stronger stimulus than would typically be necessary.

NEUROTRANSMITTER

A chemical messenger that carries information from one neuron to others.

REUPTAKE

Excess neurotransmitters are reabsorbed by the terminal buttons.

ACETYLCHOLINE (ACh)

Synthesized from the choline in our diet (found in large quantities in milk, eggs, liver, and peanuts, and often classified as part of the vitamin-B complex)

RECEPTORS

Protein molecules in the post-synaptic membrane that receive the neurotransmitters.

DOPAMINE (DA)

Seems to influence such important activities as movement, attention, and learning.

SEROTONIN (5-HT)

Appears to be related to arousal and sleep as well as to regulation of mood, appetite, and sensitivity to pain.

NEUROMODULATORS

Enhance or diminish the responsivity of the post-synaptic neuron, either by directly affecting the axon or by affecting the sensitivity of the receptor sites.

HINDBRAIN

Near the back of the neck.

MIDBRAIN

Between the forebrain and the hind-brain.

FOREBRAIN

Near what becomes the face.

MEDULLA OBLONGATA

An elongated structure at the point where the spinal cord enters the skull and joins with the brain. It helps to keep us alive by entirely controlling the heart rate and largely controlling breathing, swallowing, and digestion.

PONS

Serves as a kind of relay station, containing neurons that pass signals from one part of the brain to another.

CEREBELLUM

Controls bodily coordination, balance, and muscle tone.

RETICULAR ACTIVATING SYSTEM (RAS)

A network of neurons essential to the regulation of sleep, wakefulness, arousal, and even attention, to some extent, as well as to such vital functions as heart rate and breathing.

BRAINSTEM

The mid-brain, the hind-brain, and then thalamus and hypothalamus, both located in the fore-brain and connects the brain to the spinal cord.

LIMBIC SYSTEM

Important to emotion, motivation, and learning.

HIPPOCAMPUS

Plays an essential role in memory formation.

AMYGDALA

Plays a role in emotions, including anger and aggression.

SEPTUM

Involved in anger and fear.

THALAMUS

A two-lobed structure near the center of the brain, at about the level of the eyes, just beneath the cerebral cortex. The _________ relays the incoming sensory information to the appropriate region of the cortex.

BASAL GANGLIA

Constitute a set of structures close to the thalamus and hypothalamus that are involved in control of movements as well as in judgments and decisions that require minimal amounts of though.

HYPOTHALAMUS

Located at the base of the fore-brain beneath the thalamus, us roughly the size of a kidney bean and controls water balance in the tissues and bloodstream as well as many other functions of the autonomic nervous system.

CEREBRUM

The cerebral hemispheres and the cerebral cortex together make up the ________, that essential part of the human brain that sets us apart from other members of the animal kingdom by allowing us a greater range of psychological functioning and, in particular, though.

CEREBRAL CORTEX

A 2-millimeter-deep layer of tissue that covers the surface of the brain.

CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES

Two rounded halves of the brain, the left and right.

CORPUS CALLOSUM

A dense body of nerve fibers, connects the cerebral hemispheres.

BROCA'S AREA

A structure in the left frontal lobe, is involved in the movements of the mouth needed for speech. It is also involved in our ability to speak grammatically.

WERNICKE'S AREA

Precise location in the temporal lobe of the brain that has language-comprehension ability, located in the left hemisphere.

FRONTAL LOBE

The location of higher thought processes, such as abstract reasoning and motor processing.

PARIETAL LOBE

Soma-sensory processing of sensations in the skin and muscles of the body.

TEMPORAL LOBE

Auditory processing.

OCCIPITAL LOBE

Where visual processing occurs.

PROJECTION AREAS

Where the neurons that contain sensory information from the eyes, ears, lips, tongue, nose, and skin senses go to the thalamus.

PRIMARY MOTOR CORTEX

Specializes in the planning, control, and execution of movement, particularly movement involving any kind of delayed response.

PRIMARY SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX

Receives information from the senses about pressure, texture, temperature, and pain.

OPTIC CHIASMA

A structure in which roughly half of the information from each eye crosses over to reach cortical areas in the contra-lateral hemisphere.

ASSOCIATION AREAS

Process sensory information more elaborately than do the primary sensory areas of the brain.

ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM

The electrical activity of the entire living brain can be measured by the _________, which sums the effects of brain activity over large areas that contain many neurons.